


growing pains

by orphan_account



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Growing Up, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Michonne (Walking Dead), Protective Rick Grimes, Teen Judith Grimes, and a little angst towards the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25829542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Am I okay?" her voice breaks and a fat tear streams down her face.“Oh, Judy. This isn’t anything to worry about, you’re okay.”"But I feel like I’m gonna die, Mama.”Michonne smiles, tucking a chunk of hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead. "You’re not dying. It’s completely normal, it happens to all girls.”
Relationships: Judith Grimes & Michonne, Judith Grimes & Rick Grimes, Rick Grimes/Michonne
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	growing pains

**Author's Note:**

> au where rick never disappeared and the whisperers don’t exist
> 
> this is just a little idea that came to me that i felt i had to write out. sorry for typos + the formatting is kinda weird and idk why oof

"Judy, are you are you feeling okay?"

Judith looks up from the walker skull wherein she has the tip of her katana buried into. "Huh? Why - what do you mean?"

"You look like you’re in pain, sweetheart." Michonne declares, sheathing her own weapon. "You didn’t get -”

"No, Mama. I didn’t get bit. Don’t worry.” she smiles, her mom isn’t exactly wrong. Her stomach feels like it’s being clawed at by impossibly sharp nails. 

“Okay. I trust you.” Michonne nods, mirroring her smile before drawing her hands to her hips. "I think that’s enough training for today. It’s almost sundown and your dad’ll go senile if we’re not home in the next ten minutes,”

Judith allows a laugh to escape from her throat, knowing - from experience - how overprotective her dad is of his family. “Okay, Mama.”

*

The entire house smells like chicken by the time she and her mom shuffle through the front door. They sit at the table on the deck in the backyard and RJ fusses over his vegetables like he always does. 

“I’m not hungry,” Judith says, wrinkling her nose and pushing her plate to the side. 

Her parents share a look. 

"Oh? I thought you liked pasta and chicken.” Rick’s eyebrows angle upward. 

Judith shrugs, not really wanting to go in depth about how she doesn’t feel like stomaching anything right now — not because she simply doesn’t want to but because she feels like she might puke out enough bile to fill out a small fish pond of age does. 

“Can I be excused, please?”

“Are you sure you’re okay, sweetheart?” her mom questions again. 

However, she nods. “I’m just feeling a little funny. I think I need to lie down for a bit.”

She changes into the soft cotton sweatpants her dad brought back for her from a run and her eyes close as soon as her head hits the pillow. 

She’s pretty sure she’ll feel better if she just sleeps it off. It’s probably just a stupid stomach bug anyway. 

*

Judith somehow manages to wake up dead in the middle of the night with wetness between her legs and invisible needles poking her skin. She sits herself up, rubbing her eyes and letting her comforter pool around her waist before she quietly tiptoes into the hallway, to the bathroom. 

The water is red when she stands up to flush and instinctively, Judith starts to panic. It’s a small cry but her parents are in the bathroom within seconds, equipped with their respective weapons. 

"Judith, what’s wrong?" Rick growls, gun pointed at the unknown threat.

"I don’t - I don’t know," Judith stumbles. 

Her mother stalks up to her, cupping her cheek with her soft, delicate hand. “What sacred you, Judy? We wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t heard you scream,”

Judith swallows her embarrassment, cheeks flushing and warming. "I peed and I got up and the water was red. I don’t know why,”

"Really?" her mother looks genuinely surprised but Judith can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing. 

"Am I okay?" her voice breaks and a fat tear streams down her face. 

“Oh, Judy. This isn’t anything to worry about, you’re okay.”

"But I feel like I’m gonna die, Mama.”

Michonne smiles, tucking a chunk of hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead. "You’re not dying. It’s completely normal, it happens to all girls.”

"And boys too?

Judith cranes her neck to look at her dad, who’s standing right behind her with his gun in one hand, the other on top of her head. 

"No, not boys.” he says, stroking her hair. 

Her vision starts to blur again. “That’s not fair,” 

"Tell me about it,” Michonne sighs. “Let’s get you cleaned up, yeah? You’ll feel a lot better after a warm shower.”

Her dad leaves her with a pat to her back before exiting the bathroom, much to her mom’s request. She strips off her clothes and watches the shower water turn pink before swirling down her drain. 

When she comes out, she changes into the fresh set of clothes she finds on the toilet seat and pokes her head out the door to call her mom back in. 

She’s carrying a few stacks of white cloth in her hands. "Here. You put these in your underwear so that the blood doesn’t get everywhere." she says.

Judith nods and does just that, frowning at how strange it feels but quickly adjusting. She finds her parents downstairs, a mug of hot chocolate and a single cookie waiting for her on the kitchen counter. 

She burns her tongue when she takes her first sip. “Is this gonna happen again?”

“Yes, once a month until you reach a certain age and it stops.” Michonne tells her. 

Judith doesn’t know what to do with that information. “Oh.”

A delicate chuckle. “You’re growing up, Judes.”

“You’re not out little baby girl anymore,” there’s the faintest hint of sadness in her mom’s voice. 

Her dad grunts. “I beg to differ,” 

Judith blinks and blinks again, sandwiched between her parents now that they’ve relocated to the living room couch. She wants to say that she stopped being a little girl a long time ago - that she knows how to fight and protect her family. That she’s killed the dead and will kill again for the people she loves. “So I’m not a little girl anymore. Does that mean I can go outside the walls by myself now?”

“Nice try, Ms. Grimes.” Rick snorts.

Judith smiles and lowers her head into his lap, her feet in her mom’s. She doesn’t eat the cookie and the hot chocolate isn’t hot anymore. 

She closes her eyes and sees the fading ghost of her brother dancing in her dreams. She wonders if she’ll ever be as brave as he was - sometimes she feels like she’s living her life for him. The hat she bears on her head is more like a legacy she carries on her shoulders. She can’t remember the exact pitch of his voice, or his laugh but she can see the curve of his face and his hair and the scars around his missing eye. Wherever he is, maybe he’s proud of her.

She’ll die before RJ does - just like how Carl did so she could be  here . She’ll go to extreme lengths to keep her home, her  people  safe. 

Maybe she will be like him. 


End file.
